Data storage is a critical component for computing. In a computing device, there is a storage area in the system to store data for access by the operating system and applications. In a distributed environment, additional data storage may be a separate device that the computing device has access to for regular operations. These data storages are generally referred to as storage systems. While earlier storage systems were primarily tape based, disk-based deduplicating storage systems have become dominant as they can deliver an order of magnitude greater data reduction than traditional compression over time.
In a deduplicating storage system, a file system namespace indicates the way files and directories are identified and organized in the storage system. The file system namespace may take any of a variety of different forms. In one embodiment it contains file names, directory names, and the attributes and hierarchy of the files and directories.
When files and directories are added and deleted from the deduplicating storage system, the data blocks containing the file system namespace will be updated. The updated data blocks are written to storage units of the storage system, and the writing is generally based on the frequency and/or order of the update.